The problem of disposing of refuse and garbage generated by society has plagued the human race for centuries. Recently, the problem has become even more acute in our industrialized society, both in the United States and world wide. As more and more countries become industrialized and become efficient at producing consumable items, more and more refuse and trash is generated. In addition, as the population of the world grows at an ever-increasing rate, so does the problem of disposal of refuse.
There have been many proposals of late to solve the problem of handling the tons of garbage produced every day. A solution which is very common is to transport the refuse to a landfill or other dump site and leave it. Unfortunately, the land available for such sites, and the willingness of landowners to allow such activity to occur is becoming more and more scarce. As available landfill sites are becoming filled to capacity, the problem is becoming more acute. For example, in New York City, available land has been exhausted and the city is forced to place the refuse on barges which is then transported by sea to other locations. Such a process is very costly, and also has a high risk of unwanted dumping of the refuse in the ocean, which pollutes the water. On the other hand, continued dumping of refuse in a landfill can be a health hazard to surrounding areas and a breeding ground for bacteria and other medically unsafe conditions. In addition, there is a danger of unsafe materials leaching into the ground water of the land underneath and surrounding the landfill site.
Another approach to try to eliminate the need for landfills, or at least reduce the amount of refuse which needs to be stored is to burn the refuse. This has been accomplished for many, many years. Unfortunately, the process of burning refuse causes polluting particles and smoke to be released into the atmosphere and environment which is undesirable. Various systems have been developed which attempt to burn the garbage in a cleaner fashion, and even convert the garbage to electricity in the process. However, these systems still have not been proven to be able to do so cleanly and efficiently in an ecologically sound manner. In addition, such systems typically require that the refuse be separated prior to burning, to separate the combustible materials from the noncombustible materials. Otherwise, the system would be inefficient and require constant cleaning of the ovens used to burn the refuse.
Further attempts have been made to raise the consciousness of individuals with respect to refuse disposal and recycling of materials to reduce waste of natural resources. This has included separating aluminum cans for recycling purposes, as well as glass bottles for recycling purposes. Plastic containers and styrofoam cups have been singled out also as contributing to the growing volume of refuse problems at landfill since such materials do not biodegrade. Theoretically, the refuse deposited at a landfill is supposed be biodegradable so that it returns to its original environmentally compatible state. Consequently, there has been much discussion regarding biodegradable plastic materials, such as containers for food as well as trash bags and other plastic containers. Unfortunately, such biodegradable claims have yet to be proven. Moreover, even if such biodegradable plastic materials could be devised, they still do not solve the problem of the fact that the material, whether biodegradable or not, must be disposed of in one fashion or another.
The present invention recognizes the need for processing refuse in such a fashion that the disposal problem is virtually eliminated. The present invention further recognizes that this can be accomplished by using the refuse as raw material in a process for constructing useful articles. This includes processing the refuse so that it is encapsulated in a plastic material constructed to provide necessary characteristics for its intended purpose, in construction for example.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for recycling refuse which produces strong and durable construction materials. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system for recycling refuse which can use all types of refuse material as may be desired. It is yet another object of the present invention to recycle refuse to produce building materials which provide good insulation properties and do not pose any additional sanitary and health risks. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system and apparatus for recycling refuse which is cost effective and reliable in use and operation.